The previous three chapters have explained how macronutrients function. Now that you have a big-picture understanding of how nutrition works, it’s time to look at how to eat for maximum health. While calories are the biggest factor in weight loss or weight gain, if you’re concerned with your overall well-being, understanding the details of how these foods affect your body is very important.
The biggest selling point of the macronutrient diet is that this style of flexible dieting allows you to enjoy the foods you love, guilt-free. Well, as long as you account for them and make sure you don’t overeat.
It’s been clearly shown that total energy balance, or calories in versus calories out, is what determines weight loss. There are no evil foods or special rules about how many meals you need to eat. Food you eat after six p.m. isn’t automatically going to make you fat, and plenty of people have lost significant weight using a diet composed of mostly fast foods or processed snacks.
Just because this works does not mean it’s ideal. Sure, you can lose fat, but if you want your body to run at 100 percent efficiency and be healthy on the inside as well, it’s important to make sure you’re getting the right foods in your diet. Flexible dieting doesn’t mean that you have to eat the fun foods and snacks; it just means that you can.
If you understand that calories are what matter, you may not understand all the reasons why whole-food sources are more beneficial than packaged, processed foods. Before looking at the details of each macronutrient, you need to know why whole foods are important to include in your diet when it comes to helping you stay on track and make the right choices.
The most important reason for choosing whole foods is the micronutrients they contain. Micronutrients are the vitamins and minerals that support all of your body’s important functions, like muscular contractions, mental functioning, and a healthy immune system. Without proper micronutrients, you may look fine on the outside, but you’re not giving your body everything it needs to be healthy on the inside.
Vitamins and minerals can be obtained through pills and powders, but nothing works as well as getting them from your food. Many minerals work together to enhance each other, and whole foods often contain the vitamins and minerals that work well together.
As an example, vitamin D is often found in fatty food sources as it requires fat intake to be absorbed. If you try to supplement with vitamin D, you have to make sure you take it with a fatty meal, something nature takes care of for you with whole foods. This holds true for all kinds of vitamins and minerals that your body needs to function.
Eating whole, unprocessed food groups, like fruits, vegetables, and lean meats, are an excellent way to stay full when dieting. One of the biggest concerns with losing fat is hunger. When you find yourself running low on calories but still very hungry, it’s important to make sure the calories you’re consuming will keep you feeling full. Walking around hungry will only make it that much harder to say no to foods that aren’t part of your plan.
Fruits and vegetables often contain significant amounts of fiber. This fiber slows down the digestion process, helping you feel full and satisfied hours after you eat. With whole-food protein sources like meat and eggs, your body has to work very hard to break down the food. This is why a steak fills you up a lot more than a bowl of pasta.
Lastly, nutritional accuracy is very important when tracking macronutrients. If you plan to eat a variety of foods, throw in some treats from time to time, and still come close to your macro goals every day, you’d better know exactly what you’re eating.
Nutritional labels are usually close but are not 100 percent accurate, and there’s no way to really know what you’re getting. You’re probably fine if you’re eating foods out of packages, but then you’re also getting a whole lot of other added, unnecessary ingredients.
The accuracy concern is particularly true with restaurants or fast food chains. Many chain restaurants have nutritional information available online, which is a good guess but usually not accurate. Depending on the chef, a meal may have different nutritional values every time you eat it, so even if you track that meal, it’s just an educated guess.
Whenever possible, prepare your own meals using whole-food ingredients. Even if your measurements aren’t perfect, you’ll still be in a much better place than simply hoping the restaurant calculations are accurate or existing solely off of packaged snack foods.
When it comes to carbohydrates, the biggest concern is fiber content. High-fiber carbs, like oats, whole grains, and green vegetables, are excellent for your digestive system and keeping you full. Adequate fiber intake is also associated with improved heart health and blood sugar levels.
There are two kinds of fiber, soluble fiber and insoluble fiber. Insoluble fiber is a tough, dense fiber that can’t be broken down by the gut. It moves through the digestive system, adding bulk to your waste, which promotes regular bowel movements. This fiber is commonly found in dense leafy greens, the skin of fruits and vegetables, and certain whole grains.
Soluble fiber absorbs water and liquid and has many benefits when consumed in the proper quantity. As it absorbs water, it forms a thick, gel-like substance. In addition to this gel helping keep you regular and feeling full, soluble fiber can bind to sugar and cholesterol, slowing or completely preventing their absorption into the bloodstream. This is why high-fiber diets can lower blood sugar and cholesterol levels, which in turn reduces the risk of heart disease later in life.
Ideally, fiber should come from the foods you eat. You can supplement with fiber, but this can commonly cause digestive issues and stomach cramping. Most adults should aim for 20–30 grams of fiber in their diet each day, a very obtainable number with the right foods. If you’re reaching this number through your regular diet, there’s no need to supplement with fiber, and taking more could simply end up irritating your digestive system.
Of all the nutrients, protein may be the most misunderstood. People are quick to vilify carbohydrates and fats, claiming they are all sorts of evil, but no one seems to know what to think about protein. Some say it damages your liver; others say you need incredibly high amounts of protein in your diet.
The answer is somewhere in the middle. Protein in proper quantities won’t have any negative effects, but you probably don’t need as much as most people claim. For optimal recovery from training, satiety, and a healthy body, 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body weight is a pretty good guideline.
At a minimum, .6 grams of protein will keep you feeling okay. Fewer than that, and you may start to experience negative side effects. Not getting enough protein can cause you to lose muscle, as your body will break down your muscle tissue for the amino acids it contains.
The rest of this section will look at some of the most popular and readily available protein sources and go into a little bit of detail about each. It’s important to know the basics of protein sources so that you can be sure to choose the most optimal ones for your health and well-being.
The most common source of protein is going to be meat. These are your chicken, turkey, pork, and beef meals. Meats are going to be complete sources of protein, which means they contain all of the essential amino acids your body needs that must be obtained from foods.
With poultry like chicken and turkey, the quality isn’t quite as important as their fat content. Whenever possible, go for the cuts with the least amount of fat possible. Lean ground turkey, lean turkey breast, and boneless, skinless chicken breasts are all great options.
Both chicken and turkey can be prepared with virtually zero added fat, which can be a nice alternative to beef products, which have fat that is much harder to remove. While the skin can be quite fatty, it’s okay to enjoy it as long as you account for the fat. It’s also very easy to cook chicken with the skin to retain the meat’s moisture and flavor, and then just remove it before eating.
When it comes to pork, try to stick to lean pork chops or pork loin. Other sources of pork like bacon or sausages are fine to eat, but they’ll generally have high fat to protein ratios, which can make it a bit harder to fit into your daily macros. Many people tend to vilify pork, but if you choose a lean cut and prepare it correctly, it’s perfectly fine to enjoy.
Whenever possible, choose grass-fed beef sources. This costs a bit more, but the nutritional benefit is much better, and the flavor tends to be a bit richer and more powerful. There are several reasons why grass-fed beef is beneficial, and if you can make room for it in your budget, it’s significantly better than farm-raised beef.
Cows raised on farms are generally kept in small pens and fed grain-heavy diets, which can lead to beef that is lacking in nutrients. Cows that are free to graze on grass and move around a bit more will have more nutrients from all the greens and tend to provide leaner and healthier cuts of beef, as the cows get more exercise and fresh air. Grass-fed beef is high in omega-3 fatty acids, which are anti-inflammatory, as well as CLA, or conjugated linoleic acid, a fatty acid associated with healthy body fat levels.
By now you should understand that fat is not evil; rather, it’s a necessary component of a diet for optimal long-term health. The right sources of fat keep your hormones functioning, your brain operating on all cylinders, your skin healthy, and your joints and cells protected. Fat is important.
Not all fat is good, however. While you should be adding fat to your diet, it’s vital to make sure you’re getting the right fats in the right balances. This section will take a closer look at the various types of fat, where they come from, and how to properly balance them.
As a refresher, it’s important to understand the benefits of healthy fats, just to make sure you aren’t still scared of enjoying them.
• Improved reproductive health
• Improved hormone production
• Improved brain function
• Decreased inflammation
• Improved skin health
• Improved cellular health
• Improved cholesterol levels
Yes, fat may contain the most calories, but without dietary fat, your body would slowly begin to shut down. You don’t need too much, but you definitely need to make sure you’re getting at least some forms of fat in your diet on a regular basis.
Fat gets confusing, and for good reason—there are quite a few types. You don’t really need to understand how exactly these are classified; you just need to understand the difference between good and bad fats.
To start, trans fat is the only truly bad fat. Trans fats are found in fried and processed foods and usually have negative effects on your cholesterol and heart health. Whenever possible, avoid any food containing trans fats. Most trans fats are artificially created, so if you see that a food contains trans fats, put it down and walk away.
When it comes to good fats, unsaturated fats are the ones you want. You’ll see monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, and these are both good types of fat. Unsaturated fats have been shown to lower levels of bad cholesterol while promoting levels of good cholesterol. If you’re trying to eat the fats generally classified as healthy, like whole eggs, nuts, and avocados, you should be getting plenty of unsaturated fats.
Lastly, you should make every possible effort to get as many omega-3 fatty acids as you can. These are very anti-inflammatory; good for your heart, skin, and brain; and will help you achieve a better quality of life. You can get your omega-3s from high-quality fish oil supplements or just by making an effort to eat wild-caught fish two to three times per week.
Micronutrients, as you learned, are the many vitamins and minerals found in foods. They give you energy, support your body at a cellular level, boost your immune system, fight aging, and are very important for feeling and looking your best.
However, just because you eat a few fruits and vegetables doesn’t necessarily mean you’re covered. There are a lot of vitamins and minerals out there, and you need to make sure you’re getting all of the essentials. If you become deficient in any micronutrients, you might not notice a difference right away, but you’ll probably notice side effects over time—effects that can get quite serious.
While you could supplement with a multivitamin or greens powder, you’ll get much more value from eating a variety of whole foods to get your micronutrients. Supplements are made to supplement a healthy diet, not replace any part of it, so while they aren’t bad, you shouldn’t use supplements as an excuse to not eat your fruits and vegetables.
To help you get your nutrients in, here are a few strategies that can help you stay on track with your goals and ensure you’re getting the right variety. Your diet may never be perfect, but you can always work to make it as healthy as possible. These strategies will help you.
This isn’t referring to a popular candy; it refers to eating all the colored fruits and vegetables you can get your hands on. Fruits and vegetables often get their color from micronutrients. For example, foods high in beta-carotene often appear orange, like carrots and sweet potatoes.
This sounds complicated to do, but it’s easier than it seems. Keeping mixed bell peppers on hand, either fresh or frozen for stir-fries, is an easy way to get your red, green, yellow, and orange vegetables in. Combine this with some mixed berries for antioxidants with a few meals and plenty of leafy greens, like spinach, kale, and broccoli, and you’ll be well on your way to a nutritious diet.
If you find it hard to get enough fruits and vegetables in your diet, make it a habit to eat a serving of fruits or vegetables with every main meal. Oftentimes people will eat a salad or vegetables with dinner but opt for quick and easy meals for breakfast and lunch. This is fine, but there’s always a way to add more nutritional value to your meals.
With breakfast, the easiest way to do this is by keeping fruit on hand. Oranges, apples, bananas, kiwis, berries, and pears are all very healthy fruits that are absolutely packed with nutrients. These fruits are easy to eat and can also be carried around for a quick and healthy snack throughout the day.
For lunch and dinner, salads and vegetables are your friend. It’s very easy to throw several handfuls of mixed greens and spinach into a bowl, top with some low-fat dressing, and enjoy. Not only will this provide a large dose of antioxidants and nutrients, but it will keep you feeling full between meals.
If you really struggle with this, a multivitamin or greens powder may be helpful, but those should never be your main source of nutrition, just a backup insurance policy. Make an effort to get your micronutrients in every single day, and your body will thank you.